Plain wooden scales

hello all,

recently i've been rescaling an old french 5/8 razor from Grisselange, Thiers.

Here is a view of the blade and me first sketch (sorry for the adhesive tape, but i didn't want to scratch the scanner's glass)

In the photos there's another scaling in progress, which i didn't finish.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/795...solange.th.jpg

My scales will be made of boxwood, 3 mm thick (1/8" in the funny american units). The spacer is ebony, 2 mm, and a brass lining (0.3 mm separated both woods).


The first step is to saw 10x2.5 cm (4" x 1") slabs from the boxwood.
Then i glued those slabs back to back.

[IMG=http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/405/p1070684.th.jpg][/IMG]

Sawing in progress (i use a tabletop bandsaw)

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/4...070690j.th.jpg

A lot of sanding and it's starting to look like scales. Note the spacers, sawed oversized.

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6864/p1070694.th.jpg

Assermbling everything (with a screw, temporarly)

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/800/p1070708x.th.jpg

Then I cut down the excess ebony and brass (using the saw, then a file). Disassemble everything, varnish the wood, let it dry for a couple of hours.

Resassemble, using brass pins, cut to the good length and hammered... Here I am :


http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3609/p1070763t.th.jpg

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/5...070762t.th.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7748/p1070765k.th.jpg

Far from perfect (the end pin is not centered, there is some free move, the spacer is large, the scales are a tad too narrow compared to the blade) but a large improvement from my previous work (this is only my third rescaling), i'm rather content.

Nice and tight fit! Awesome job mate! Look forward to many more

Looks good. I have only rescaled one razor and I cut my wood down to 3/16", which seemed to be a good thickness. I too need more practice to get scales looking better, but I was satisfied with the end result. Keep up the good work.